Last revised 5/2006
I. Commissioners' Office. The commissioner of the SJL is responsible for keeping the league up-to-date on league history, regulations, standings, highlights, team information and news, and offseason newsletters, which will include team-by-team profiles, analysis of the coming season, reports on minor league organizations, etc. He is also responsible for deciding any issues of constitutional interpretation that arise due to lack of clarity in any of the following constitutional rules.
A) Selection of Commissioners. Anyone, at anytime, may call for a vote for a new commissioner, or simply indicate interest in being a part of that office. If there is ever a disagreement about the makeup of the office and a nomination of a new commissioner or a new slate of commissioners, then the league will submit the disagreement to a majority vote.
B) Constitutional Amendments. Any changes to this document require the approval of two-thirds of SJL GMs.
C) League Dues. With the adoption of Scoresheet Baseball, there is now an annual payment that goes directly to the Scoresheet company. In addition, Scoresheet charges a small fee of $3 for any set of changes to either the hitters' roster card or the pitchers' roster card during the season or $5 if a gm makes changes to the hitters and pitchers cards simultaneously. The league agreed to place a limit of $30 on roster changes per gm per season. Other than the Scoresheet fee, there are no league dues.
D) League Website. All official league business, including rosters, league transactions, supplemental drafts, the latest newsletters, the history of the league, team standings and statistics and the waiver wire, will be posted to the league website at the following address:
http://www.geocities.com/rolfsamuels/sjl.html
II. Season. For the first 7 seasons of the SJL, a season consisted of anywhere from 102 to 108 games per team, in the latter case each team played 12 intradivisional games and 8 interdivisional games.
With the shift to Scoresheet in 2000, the SJL season has been expanded to a 162 game current season simulation, with each of the 16 teams playing 12 games against each intradivisional opponent and 9-10 games against each team in the other division. Currently there are two eight-team divisions, with a playoff format that includes the top two teams from each division.
III. Rosters and Trades.. Roster size has increased gradually over the years of the league and now stands at a 60-player limit. Managers may drop players to the waiver wire at any time during the year with the exception of 2 days prior to the March 11 draft. Trades are allowed at any time during the season or offseason with the exception of the in-season trading deadline, extending from each midnight of August 15 through the SJL World Series, and the 48-hour period prior to the March draft.
IV. Salary Cap. Starting in 2002, the salary cap is established by calculating the median salary of all MLB teams plus 25 percent. This will be based on MLB team salary info at the beginning of the previous season.
All players who have exhausted their rookie eligibility in previous years would count against the cap, regardless of major league or minor league status the previous year. Minor leaguers from the previous season who have not exhausted their rookie eligibility will not count against the cap, nor will players who did not qualify for rookie status the previous season based on the required major league ABs and IPs. In addition, players who were not on a major league roster the previous season, or players who were signed to only a minor league contract, would not count against the cap unless they had previously exhausted their rookie eligibility. Players injured the previous season will count against the cap, as long as they remained with a major league organization.
Each year we would base our salary system on the previous season's real-life major league salary data. We will use the end of season payroll information available via USAToday.com and baseball-reference.com.
A) If GMs wish to retain rights to a player for an additional year, then the GM must have salary cap room to accommodate that player's actual MLB salary from the previous season, unless the player retains his rookie eligibility (see above).
B) GMs are not responsible for covering the salary of a player who suffers a season long injury. Let's say you have a player that is likely to miss much of the season with a serious injury. You can avoid paying the salary of that player by placing him on the DL for the entire year and having the "insurance company" pick up the tabs for his salary. In order to be eligible for this, a player must be on the MLB 60-day DL at the beginning of the season and the GM must not use the player for the duration of the season. If the GM actually uses the player in question, then his past year's salary must count against the cap. For players who are expected to miss most of the upcoming season but are not on the MLB 60-day DL, GMs can appeal to the commissioner's office to have them DL'ed for the season.
C) If a GM trades a player in midseason, that player's salary no longer counts against the salary cap, unless the arrangements of a trade dictate otherwise. If a GM waives a player who is not under contract, then that player's salary no longer counts against the salary cap. If a GM waives a player who is under contract, then that player's salary continues to count against the team cap until another team claims that player or until that player retires.
D) GMs are prohibited from trading salaries without trading players.
E) There is a ban on circular trading, defined as a trade in which one player moves from one team to another and back to the first team with the effect of shifting payroll obligations within a given season.
V. Annual Draft. The annual Shoeless Joe Draft will be held each year on second Saturday of March at 11:00 am eastern time. All Shoeless Joe teams will be allowed to participate in drafting from 12 randomly chosen major league organizations (chosen one year earlier during draft conference call and equal to the number of teams in the Shoeless Joe league). Draft eligible players will include rookies and minor leaguers from these major league organizations, as well as free agents remaining from the January free agent pool (see part two of constitution). Rookies and minor leaguers who are traded from eligible draft-pool teams to non-draft pool teams during the off-season are not eligible to draft, whereas rookies and minor leaguers who are traded to pool teams are eligible. There is a 48-hour freeze period on trades and waiver wire acquisitions prior to the March draft.
A) Draft Position. Draft position and draft dollars will be based on previous year's standings. The league will follow the guidelines of the NASCAR Compromise (developed by Kevin Hill and extended by Rolf Samuels for expansion), which allocates dollar amounts in the following manner:
Draft picks and money may be traded without restriction, except during the "freeze" period prior to an expansion draft and the 2-day period prior to the March supplemental draft.
B) Tiebreaker formula for draft order. If two teams had identical records, then the best team will be determined by records in head-to-head play. If teams split their head-to-head games, then the tiebreaker is determined by record within the division. If teams are still tied, then a coin flip will be used.
C) Dollar Values. Players' dollar values will be determined by the Commissioners' office. AAA and AA players available for the draft cost $5 if not otherwise rated by the the Commissioners' office. If a minor league player has at least 15 innings pitched and 30 atbats at AA or AAA level and is not rated by the commissioner's office, then he will cost $5. Single A minor leaguers are free in the annual draft. Grade A minor league prospects at AA or AAA go anywhere from the $21 to $30 range, with B prospects going anywhere from $10 to $20, and C prospects are typically $5, with the commissioner's office retaining discretion in the final dollar figure.
D) Rounds. Each Shoeless Joe club will be allowed to draft a maximum of 10 rounds in a typical SJL draft, as long as the total roster does not exceed 60 (beginning in 2006). Regardless of roster size, teams may only draft a maximum of 10 rounds. Extra picks must be acquired through trade with other SJL teams not drafting during the full 10 rounds. Note that the exception to the 10 round rule is the 2005 and 2006 drafts, which are expanded to 13 rounds to expedite the roster expansion to 60.
E) Pre-Draft Waivers. Teams may drop players as late as 48 hours prior to the draft (2nd Saturday of March), but must notify the commissioner for such drops to be official.
F) Selection of Draft Pool. Each draft pool will be determined by a random selection process performed and announced as part of each year's Shoeless Joe draft. The method of random selection varies annually and may be suggested by any GM.
VI. MVP and Damon Rutherford voting (Cy Young equivalent). This annual award for best position player and best pitcher will take place prior to each annual draft. Each manager will be allowed to vote from a list of players provided by commissioner's office for league MVP and outstanding pitcher from the previous season. GMs may nominate any player from any team for league awards.
SJL CONSTITUTION, Part II: Scoresheet format, postseason, expansion, free agency, waivers, awards